Everything else equal, we can all agree that living in a cheaper place is better than living in a more expensive place.
I’d much rather pay $500/mo in rent than $1,000. And I’d rather pay $2 for coffee than $5.
And while every neighbhorhood in Tampa might be more expensive than living in rural Florida, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.
What exactly are those Tampa neighborhoods where your dollar goes a little further — you can get that one bedroom instead of the studio?
Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and determine which neighborhoods in Tampa are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.
What’s the cheapest neighborhood to live in Tampa for 2024? According to the most recent census data, Drew Park looks to be the cheapest Tampa neighborhood to live in.
At this point, we should make it clear that you do get what you pay for — some of these neighborhoods might not be the best places to live in Tampa. You could be sacrificing location or crime rates for more space and cheaper groceries.
Read on to see how we determined the places around Tampa that deserve a little bragging rights, or maybe you’re interested in the worst neighborhoods in Tampa.
For more Florida reading, check out:
- Best Places To Live In Florida
- Cheapest Places To Live In Florida
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Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 10 Cheapest Neighborhoods To Live In Tampa For 2024
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Population: 1,457
Cost Of Living Index: 84 (9th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.2 (17th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.015 (16th cheapest)
More on Drew Park: Data | Real Estate
/10
Population: 4,510
Cost Of Living Index: 93 (37th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.1 (13th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.016 (18th cheapest)
More on South Seminol Heights: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 1,752
Cost Of Living Index: 104 (50th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.2 (16th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.008 (2nd cheapest)
More on Palma Ceia West: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 1,472
Cost Of Living Index: 128 (66th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.4 (3rd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.006 (cheapest)
More on Culbreath: Data | Real Estate
/10
Population: 1,274
Cost Of Living Index: 85 (14th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.5 (4th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.03 (53rd cheapest)
More on College Hill: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 2,045
Cost Of Living Index: 118 (60th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.7 (5th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.011 (8th cheapest)
More on Belmar Gardens: Data | Real Estate
/10
Population: 720
Cost Of Living Index: 82 (4th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.1 (cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.039 (68th cheapest)
More on Orient Park: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 1,357
Cost Of Living Index: 133 (68th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.1 (2nd cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.008 (3rd cheapest)
More on Golf View: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 10,119
Cost Of Living Index: 104 (50th cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 2.8 (6th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.017 (2cheapest)
More on New Tampa: Data | Real Estate
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Population: 6,280
Cost Of Living Index: 92 (33rd cheapest)
Home Value To Income Ratio: 3.0 (11th cheapest)
Rent To Income Ratio: 0.022 (35th cheapest)
More on Seminol Heights: Data | Real Estate
Methodology: How We Determined The Cheapest Tampa Hoods In 2024
To rank the cheapest places to live in Tampa, we had to determine what criteria define “cheap” and then apply Saturday Night Science.
Using Census and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:
- Overall Cost Of Living
- Rent To Income Ratio
- Median Home Value To Income Ratio
We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 71 in each category, where 1 was the cheapest.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a cheap neighborhood index.
And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest cheapest neighborhood index, the “Cheapest City Neighborhood In Tampa.” We’re lookin’ at you, Drew Park.
We updated this article for 2024. This is our fourth time ranking the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Tampa. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from cheapest to most expensive.
Summary: Lowest Cost Places To Live In Tampa
If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Tampa where prices are low, and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.
The most affordable neighborhoods in Tampa are Drew Park, South Seminol Heights, Palma Ceia West, Culbreath, College Hill, Belmar Gardens, Orient Park, Golf View, New Tampa, and Seminol Heights.
As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Tampa aren’t all cheap. Ridgewood Park takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Tampa.
The most expensive neighborhoods in Tampa are Ridgewood Park, Harbour Island, Tampa Heights, Downtown, and Davis Island.
We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below.
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